Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
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I am still puzzled as to why we have the shutdown. I understand that lots of other countries have all been shut down at the same time, but the circumstances were different in those countries – notably they had much higher numbers of cases than South Africa.
In short, countries around the world shut down, one might argue, to stop the hospitals overflowing due to the high volume of case numbers they had at the time they introduced the shutdown. Italy did not shut itself down when it had only 1,000 cases. South Africa did. When other countries have come out of the shutdown they have not had 10 times more cases than they had going into the shutdown – with South Africa now at over 11,000 cases.
Some people have told me that they think this was so that we could prepare for the epidemic. If preparation involves ordering personal protective gear for doctors and nurses or the army setting up hospital beds at Nasrec, I cannot see why the whole population had to be locked in their houses for those types of things to be done? Our government suggests that, according to its data, which at the moment it will not reveal to us - for the fear of a panic - which makes one wonder how bad it is, and if one will not panic even more when you are not allowed to see the data because it is so bad, that our peak will be in September.
Are we going to shut down the country again in September? The videos I have seen of people waiting for food parcels clearly show that no social distancing is going on between them and things are so bad that people have to queue just to get food. I just don’t believe that South Africa can afford a shutdown and I am still puzzled as to why we had to have such a dramatic shutdown for the whole month of April and even now only one-third of staff can go back to the offices. I don’t for one second underestimate the severity of this disease and the dangers that it holds for the South African population, but I don’t understand why we shut down when we had 1,000 cases and we are reopening, slowly, once we got to 11,000 case and are presumably heading on to much higher numbers. One thing is for sure, we cannot afford to stay closed much longer.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Tuesday 12-May-20
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Comments
Melandre' said:
on Friday 19-Jun-20 10:27 AM
An approach was taken, to fight the curve.The government thought they would get ahead of the virus if they initiated the lockdown sooner rather than later. Looking at where we are now, I would say the lockdown did nothing except kill the economy. Our numbers of infection has sky rocketed, so what did we curve exactly.
Roxanne said:
on Thursday 04-Jun-20 03:00 PM
From what I've seen the lockdown did no good as people are still out in hoards. The lockdown was not effective and if people don't stick to the rules the lockdown is useless
Cornelie said:
on Thursday 04-Jun-20 10:24 AM
I do think we wont go into lock down again. We just need to be more aware of our health and keep that distance I think the virus is going to spread regardless lock down or not.
Kayla said:
on Thursday 28-May-20 08:23 AM
I honestly believe that this lockdown made no difference. Most people held by social distancing, however there is a large majority of people who did not. Within two months our cases increased so much than when we started.
Zindy said:
on Thursday 28-May-20 08:06 AM
In a way i do think that the lockdown was very soon but necessary as people were not taking it seriously but now when the cases are rising more than ever now they want to open?There was alot of pressure in Government and they were probably scared and needed to get things in order for what was coming, so by slowing the virus spreading in the beginning they started making preparations for the inevitable and raising awareness but the worst is yet to come.
brumilde said:
on Tuesday 26-May-20 09:27 AM
I believe the right approach was taken, to fight the curve. I think this point can be used in future debate teams, one who argues it did more wrong than right and vice versa, either way it happened, we could not have stopped it. I think they are scared because they know we have a terrible medical care system.
Michelle Smillie said:
on Monday 25-May-20 04:06 PM
I agree with what others have commented, that South Africa was most likely under a lot of pressure and I don't think our government was as acutely aware of the other issues that citizens face, especially hunger. I think the action was guided by the National Command Council before sound scientific evidence could properly support their suggestions. Now, they have probably seen it is not as necessary, but won't admit it and rather cling to the notion that the lockdown was necessary and did save lives.
Henrietta said:
on Monday 25-May-20 09:33 AM
I myself am puzzled, and also ask the question if the numbers of infection and death rates come to a boiling point are we going to lockdown again. I believe that south Africa can not afford another lockdown. We already have a huge unemployment rate and after this lockdown i believe more people will be retrenched and companies will close down. It's scary knowing you have a job currently but it could change in the next few months. Does this mean out high crime rate will also climb? Some of the regulation is uncalled for an unnecessary and i also don't underestimate the severity of the virus but i don't think the early strict lockdown was necessary. We will just have to wait and see what the future hold.
Helen said:
on Saturday 23-May-20 01:49 PM
South Africa has recorded 20125 coronavirus cases and 357 deaths out of a population of 58 million, relatively low numbers compared with COVID-19 hot spots in Europe or the United States.
But the economic hardship has been severe. There has been looting in some areas during the lock down. Images of kilometres-long queues for charity food aid have beamed around the world.
I would agree that South African population will start dying from starvation and not from Covid - 19.
Claudia B said:
on Monday 18-May-20 08:35 AM
I would think that South Africa had the shutdown so early is because they knew what was coming and that they wanted to get ahead of everything. I just hope the numbers come down and that we won't face another shutdown in September.
Tamaryn said:
on Sunday 17-May-20 03:58 PM
Scientists are saying the rationale behind the shutdown is unsound and ineffective. It didn't work, as the figures are showing. I think they realise that they can't control the situation and now can't justify the measures that were implemented. Sometimes removing pride from the equation is all it takes.
Megan said:
on Friday 15-May-20 01:40 PM
I think the government thought they would get ahead of the virus and other countries if they initiated the lockdown sooner rather than later. I think a lot of people haven't been adhering to the rules implemented which has lead us to these numbers.
Joyce said:
on Thursday 14-May-20 11:25 PM
I think SA was in a lot of pressure and had to take a decision of sooner shut down. Let’s hope the cure of his disease is discovered sooner before a decision of another shut down in September is taken.
Nicolle said:
on Thursday 14-May-20 09:54 PM
The lockdown cannot prevent further spread as many at-risk populations cannot socially distance. The poor will be become more poor, helpless and dependent on a state with already dwindling resources. The controls on economic activity also appear not to be rationally connected to any prevention strategy and is simply harming the economy without preventing the spread of the virus. The believed long-term socio-economic damage caused by this pandemic and the ensuing lockdown and restrictions is insurmountable.
Covid-19 has caused a seemingly uncontrollable change in our lives, in our circumstances, affecting our activities across the spectrum, the most burdensome, for the moment being the economic hardships faced by the people. People who are unable to care for themselves... To care for their families.
We need a renegotiation. A transparency! An accountability! And, a really freaken solid show of good faith
Ashleigh said:
on Thursday 14-May-20 02:03 PM
South Africa shut down because they knew that they needed to minimize the amount of cases and that we were not going to be able to keep up with the amount of tests required to get actual figures. We certainly will have big problems in this country because not many keep to rules as well.
Chante said:
on Thursday 14-May-20 10:12 AM
I also did not agree with the fact that we had a nationwide lockdown with only 1000 cases at that time...it would have made much more sense to have a lockdown once numbers start to rise - the lockdown was supposed to prevent the spread of the virus but it didn't.
fikile said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 06:58 PM
i think the country was put on lock down because these covid19 came as a big scare for the whole world and hey wanted to prevent the spread of this covid19 only to find out that it was only making it worse. i do believe that we will be shutting down again and maybe soon than we think because the spread is getting worse by the minute and the president thinks it's best that the should be another lock down.
They will never show or reveal the real stats because they know that even if they do show it, people will still be doing the same thing they are doing currently which is not following the lock down rules and regulation. The lock down will processed by the lock of tings.
Prishani said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 04:37 PM
I think the government was probably under a lot of pressure at the time and also taking into account the steps that other countries took. I think it was mainly to prepare the hospitals in a speedy manner. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to make such a huge decision I am sure plenty of thought went into it.
thembi said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 03:54 PM
I think is for the hospitals and everything. I hope we do not have another lockdown in September because of jobs and the economy that is bad.
sandra said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 03:54 PM
The reason for the lockdown in April was for our hospitals to prepare for the COVID. In saying that, I do not know if this helped because it still seems as if we are back at square one. The lockdown has created a massive economic turmoil and it will still get worse if we do not go to a lower level
Mathilda Du Preez said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 09:24 AM
The lockdown had only one purpose and that was to keep people at home while our health services prepared for what COVID-19 may bring in terms of people being hospitalised and deaths, but nothing has been mentioned in this regard to what has actually been achieved since the lockdown has begun?
In actual fact the cases have just increased by the thousands and I do not see it slowing down anytime soon.
Personally I do not see why people in all professions cannot return to work, obviously still under strict conditions.
More people will die of hunger than of COVID-19 at the end.
Dasanya said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 09:21 AM
I don't think it was ever going to be an easy decision to make. We watched what was happening in China and then in Italy and this influenced our implementation of an early lockdown however, not much difference was made. We are phasing out with a damaged economy and a higher infection rate. We are not testing enough people and it is said that the Western Cape has become the epicenter of this pandemic but that is because they are finding these cases with more efficient testing being done! I fear the true reality of our infections.
Angelique said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 09:18 AM
I assume to also cover themselves - they have now taken the precautionary measures. Better people at home than crowding the hospitals. Honestly, the economy will open and they will slowly allow us to get infected as there really isn't any other way. Regardless of what decision our president was going to make he was definitely not going to please everyone. Countries don't have to all do the same thing right? It certainly is a difficult job to be in now and make the decisions a president has to make. Damned if you do, damned if you dont.
Shristi said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 09:07 AM
I think the lockdown was implemented at a very early stage and the main reason behind this was to allow the healthcare sector prepare themselves to deal with this pandemic as well as getting our healthcare facilities ready to deal with the influx. Due to the rapid increase in numbers daily there is a high possibility that we could go back to level 5 and I do not think our economy is going to survive if this happens.
Thabitha said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 08:48 AM
Yes we cannot afford to stay closed for long and I think our government panicked. I must say this was the most difficult decision to make even now it is still not easy and I feel like if our government didn't shut down the number was going to be higher than now
Melissa van Tellingen said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 08:45 AM
I personally think that the level 5 lockdown was implemented in order for the Government to get ready for when the pandemic peaks. It just shows you that we as South Africa aren't equip to deal with this pandemic.
Jessica said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 08:39 AM
I guess we would never really know why they chose to do it at that specific time. Then again they tried to stop it as quick as possible which looks like it didn't work at all. I mean we have so many infections already with so little people tested.
Michelle D said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 08:17 AM
It was always going to be a difficult decision to make. The truth is that South Africans would absolutely hate the government if they just let the virus run wild (even more than we do now having not been able to leave our houses for the past 2 months). It's very difficult to flatten the curve after it has already begun to peak. Just imagine how many people in Italy could have been saved if they started lockdown sooner, how many more people would have lived because they could actually get access to a ventilator. It is difficult taking into account the economy, I have a few friends who have been retrenched as a result of this crisis. It's easy to see that valid arguments can be made from both sides, I'm just very glad that I don't have to make those kinds of decisions and regardless of what our government decides there will never be one wholly correct choice.
Alexis said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 07:45 AM
It is difficult to say as to why the shut down was made so early, one can only guess that it was done like this to prevent the country from having so many cases, but then again, as you can see, the numbers are climbing everyday and we have reached almost 12 000 cases.
I understand what the President was trying to do, but it is not working and the economy is suffering because of it, people are suffering because of it.
It is going to be a long time before anything gets back to 'normality' and as with most things, it is going to get worse before it gets any better.
There is as well a number of conspiracy theories behind the shut down as well, which is very concerning if it is the case,. But, then again, people are always looking for a far bigger issue than what is needed.
Nicolene said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 07:31 AM
The only reason why it looks like the stats are increasing is because they can test more people per day then what they normally tested. I am sure that we will go back to level 5 and I really don't hope so because companies as well as South Africa cannot afford to stay closed.
Melissa said:
on Wednesday 13-May-20 07:30 AM
This is really a big concern for all of us. If you look at it this way other countries are way ahead of us and prepared in eg. hospital beds, etc, but SA doesn't really know how to work or operate during difficult times. The pandemic is spreading rapidly every hour and we can't be under lockdown for the rest of our lives. There is nothing we can do except to be hygienic. We have to take this serious
Kendall said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 02:42 PM
The lockdown in South Africa appeared to start out with good intentions from our government to slow down the inevitable spreading of the virus in order to prepare hospitals and beds. The government has now had sufficient time to prepare hospitals in response to the epidemic and the continuation of this hard lockdown does not seem to be necessary. Not only has the lockdown gone on for too long now but many of the rules and regulations are nonsensical. For example, it is justified for shopping malls to be flooded with people but hair dressers cannot open with having one client at a time. People cannot continue to live like this.
Karien said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 02:08 PM
The statement about not revealing data due to the fear of panic makes me want to panic. I believe that we have the right to be informed and by keeping information form being made public is worrisome.
South Africa was praised by WHO for its fast action taken to curb the spread, but the lockdown was not as effective as it should've been since our number of cases are increasing sharply. The outcome and sharp increase in cases just show that lockdown rules were not adhered to, which is understandable when taking into consideration the strictness of the regulations. There was not a great "by-in" from the public regarding the policies and it is simply impossible for some to adhere to the regulations due to their living conditions.
Lourien said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 12:19 PM
Having such a pandemic world wide is concerning. My view is that other countries have much better facilities, hospitals and medical care than South Africa. If the other countries was not prepared for this pandemic how can we ever be prepared we cannot even organize food to be delivered to the poor.
Courtney said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 12:10 PM
It is scary that most people does not take this serious enough. If you go to any mall, it's scary of how many people are in there. They just don't care about others. South Africa can't afford a lock down at all.
Sujata said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 11:35 AM
The lockdown occurred far too early amidst the international hype over Covid-19. As it seems the peak is yet to come and once it does then what? back to level 5. Efforts are admirable but transparency is needed.
Lucretia said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 09:55 AM
I think this whole lock down was premature. My daughter is in the medical field and works in 2 of the top hospitals and she has said absolutely nothing has happened anywhere at the hospitals. I have my own view as to what is happening with the country and the lock down and the small businesses that are folding - is this a conspiracy........
Natasha said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 09:17 AM
I don't know what is going to happen to South Africa never in my life did I think something like this will happen to us. I think they announced the lock down to see how we would co operate during this time so that they can see if they need to make drastic changes when we are at our peak of the virus. But i think they also took it a bit far because banding cigarettes I mean really rarely people will share a cigarette. We will have to wait and see what awaits us.
Danielle said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 09:15 AM
I think everyone is in such a panic and actually don’t really know what to do.As our peak is still to come I really hope that our South African citizens will take this more serious.
patrick said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 08:51 AM
I have seen an article yesterday by the only born noble wining South African scientist saying the same thing. That we closed the country as precedent but not fact. that we did it because the country is not ready for state of emergency. That the out come will be worse for the ruling party because the country is going to go jobless and the economy will likely collapse. That more and more people will be retrenched.
Bianca Niemann said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 08:38 AM
This lockdown certainly is a little dramatic. Places such as Australia, in Perth if I am not mistaken, they do not have the lockdown to this extent, but do practice social distancing and pubs etc. are closed, but the people are disciplined enough to adhere to the social distancing rules. Even in lockdown, South Africans are not following the rules and as you mentioned, when they are waiting for food parcels there is absolutely no distancing going on. Our economy cannot afford to be shut down especially not this long. There are far too many small businesses who have had to close their doors and people who have lost their jobs. It does not make any sense to keep our economy suffering like this. We cannot afford to be in lockdown any longer, especially since the way it is being done does not make any sense.Using the cigarette sales as an example, Dlamini Zuma says it is prohibited partly because people share cigarettes etc. But people share food and drinks as well. It is your responsibility as an intelligent life form to know not to share food or drinks in a time like this. The problem is that they are being strict on some things such as what is allowed to be sold, while other things are being overlooked. Covid-19 is not going to disappear overnight, and the truth is that our economy is taking so much damage now, who knows how long this will take to repair.
Bronwyn said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 08:32 AM
I think our government Panicked,and without the lock down happening I think we would have been sitting with a higher number now than we are currently at as many people has not taking the severity of the virus seriously and some still do not.
Clare said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 08:32 AM
I think they shutdown as fast as possible to try not let the Virus spread. So try to control it before it went out of control. People are not taking this Virus serious so now the numbers are coming up and the death is rate is also growing.
Ziyanda said:
on Tuesday 12-May-20 07:54 AM
I think that our government panicked after seeing what was happening in the countries with high infections and fatalities.I think they should have put the measures that they have implemented without a lockdown until we reach our peak.
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
